Highland fling turns into Keane contest

Sunday 18 December 2005 20.02 EST
First published on Sunday 18 December 2005 20.02 EST

Roy Keane may have been excused from a visit to the most northerly stadium in the SPL, but if the former Manchester United captain had watched his new team in action he would at least have learned that their path towards reclaiming the league title may not be as clear as many have predicted.

Celtic were ultimately fortunate to escape Inverness with a point after Craig Brewster's men handed them as tricky a 90 minutes as they have faced all season. Craig Dargo and John Hartson exchanged goals in an opening 21 minutes that were as fraught as any this season, and despite a plethora of late chances the home side fell short of inflicting Celtic's third defeat of the SPL campaign. Keane will not kick a ball in anger for Gordon Strachan's team until a Scottish Cup tie on January 8, as Celtic look to hold on to or extend their four-point lead at the league summit over the traditionally pivotal festive period.

Strachan later admitted concern at his team's "gung-ho" attitude to the match. "It was a cracking game of football," said the Celtic manager. "There were chances, mistakes and two teams going for it. But we went for it too much. We have to calm down sometimes and realise we cannot keep attacking so much, because the defence gets isolated. We were in too much of a rush to win the game."

Dargo handed the home side a dream opening within 30 seconds of kick-off, as he picked up a flick-on from Brewster to score his sixth goal in eight matches from four yards. Celtic's defence was static at the time, and that was to become a feature of the following 44 minutes, as Inverness carved out a series of decent scoring opportunities thanks to generous play from their visitors.

But Hartson, whose own scoring ability has not diminished throughout the tenures of Martin O'Neill and now Strachan, brought the league leaders back on terms with a clinical half-volley after a fine cross from Ross Wallace.

Dargo's elusive runs continued to torment Celtic, though, and the former Kilmarnock man was handed an ideal opportunity to put his side ahead once again after 29 minutes when he was bundled over in the area by Stephen McManus. Dargo took the penalty himself, but Artur Boruc saved well to his left.

The match was reverberating from end to end, and even the appearance of snow early in the second half did little to cool the level of attacking football from both teams. Brewster had a snap-shot smartly blocked by Boruc before Aiden McGeady provided a candidate for miss of the season by screwing the ball wide from six yards with the goal gaping.

Brewster, the Inverness player-manager whose effervescent form continues to belie each of his 39 years, typifies the success at this small club. Formed 12 years ago by the merger of two Highland League sides, Caley Thistle have thrived on the drive and determination that Brewster embodies, and he was typically troublesome to the Celtic defence throughout yesterday's 90 minutes.

Strachan, on the other hand, spent much of the match in heated debate with the fourth official Andrew Hunter, and the referee Stuart Dougal had to step in midway through the second half to reduce touchline tensions.

Chris Sutton, who has seen his role reduced to that of a bit-part player in Strachan's plans during recent weeks, was introduced in place of the ineffectual McGeady, but Celtic continued to toil against the guile of their hosts.

Boruc saved spectacularly from Brewster's 30-yard free-kick and Russell Duncan blazed wildly over the bar from Barry Wilson's cut-back as Inverness finished the game looking more likely to snatch a winner. But though three points would have been no more than Brewster and his impressive side deserved, they had to settle for being the third team to draw with the league leaders this season.

"I'm a great believer in getting results through working hard," said Brewster. "The boys are now getting those results because of the effort they're putting in. I was delighted with the performance - everyone played to the best of their ability and I don't think Celtic really hurt us after the first 20 minutes of the match."